


Of Field Demotions and Burning Emotions

by NicePumpkinSpice



Series: Of Sweet Memories and Guarded Moments [38]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 13:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3612402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicePumpkinSpice/pseuds/NicePumpkinSpice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evelyn and her squad attack Samson's headquarters.  Red lyrium takes its toll.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Field Demotions and Burning Emotions

Evelyn sensed something was terribly wrong as she entered the courtyard outside the temple where Samson’s Red Templar’s were headquartered. Her team should have faced considerably more resistance getting inside - either they were about to be ambushed or the camp had been largely abandoned. She was worried how Cullen would react if they couldn’t capture Samson. He was so emotionally invested in confronting the man. 

“Maker, tell me he hasn’t fled.” she heard Cullen muttering under his breath. 

In the courtyard, red banners with black flaming swords emblazoned on them fluttered in the wind. Some tents with the same insignia were set up at the base of the stairs that led into the temple, but there weren’t many. Evelyn’s team required more tents when it traveled. Her eyes scanned the walls looking for some signs of life. An unusual shadow in a corner caught her attention. The shadow had a humped back. It undoubtedly belonged to a Red Templar Horror. Evelyn motioned to the shadow. Varric pointed to three others. They were not alone.

When her squad began their attack on the horrors, Evelyn expected more men to come pouring toward them either from the tents or the temple itself. Between her magic and the two rogues’ arrows, the horrors fell before either Cassandra or Cullen could engage them. Still no one else came to oppose them. Before crossing the courtyard and heading up the steps to the temple, Evelyn again scanned the battlements looking for archers. There weren’t any.

Three more Red Templars confronted them as they opened the door to the temple. Varric and Sera peppered them from afar while Cullen, Cassandra, and Evelyn attacked up close. After running a horror through with her spirit sword, Evelyn fade stepped out of melee range and began hitting the remaining guards with a brutal combination of fire and frost spells. Cullen and Cassandra were soon wiping their blades on their dead enemies‘ clothing.

“This doesn’t feel right.” Cassandra commented. “There should be more. It should be more difficult.”

As she spoke the last sentence, a hulking crystalline red templar behemoth swung a gigantic clawed arm at the Seeker. Evelyn reacted quickly throwing a barrier over Cassandra before she could be crushed.

“Perhaps I spoke too soon.” Cassandra commented dryly then hacked at the monstrosity.

Evelyn slowed the beast with a disruption field, and then joined Cassandra swinging her spirit sword. Sera’s poisoned arrows stuck out of the behemoth’s rocky flesh while its legs were battered by the traps Varric laid in its path. Cullen watched the team’s flank expecting reinforcements while the behemoth advanced on them relentlessly.

The Inquisitor shouted for her team to get clear and then called lightning down on the behemoth. While its body was still twitching with electricity, Evelyn let a barrage of frost fly at it. Her combined attack finally killed the monstrosity which crashed to the ground making a sound like a shattering chandelier.

Evelyn bent over putting her hands on her knees. She was accustomed to having another mage fight with her, but she had left the others behind knowing the temple would likely have many red lyrium deposits. Being around the tainted crystals was painful and draining for mages, and Evelyn thought her archers could pick up the slack. She was wrong. The strain of maintaining her own barriers while also launching attacks had drained her mana.

Leaving the temple to get the other mages wasn’t an option, it was obvious that the Red Templars were sacking their own headquarters to keep the Inquisition from gaining information. Fires were already burning inside the temple - destroying any papers and equipment that the retreating templars couldn’t carry with them. Evelyn knew she needed to press on if there was any hope of catching Samson before he successfully withdrew.

Without rest or time, her mana would not restore on its own. Her only option for speeding the mana regeneration process was taking lyrium. Reaching into her potions’ pouch, Evelyn reminded herself that Cullen asked to accompany her. She hoped her use wouldn’t trigger withdrawal or relapse in him, but she was without choices. She found the blue vial, opened it, and choked down its contents. She immediately felt her magic surge. Only once Evelyn had taken the potion did she look at Cullen. His face was pale, but he nodded to her indicating that he understood the necessity.

“Let’s keep moving. Even if Samson was tipped off, we are still dealing him a significant blow.” Cullen stated with more optimism than Evelyn had come to expect from him. 

Their progress through the first section of the temple was fast as they cut through the templars guarding the area easily. Cullen was ready to race through a set of large doors when Evelyn sat down on the steps leading to them.

“Come on. We need to move!” he yelled at her his face flush and eyes aflame.

“Just a minute. I need to...” Evelyn started to explain then nearly vomited. Her head was throbbing and her stomach churning from being near so much red lyrium. She could barely see straight.

Cullen ran over to her and grabbed her arm forcefully. “I said move!” yelling at Evelyn as if she were a trainee.

Cassandra stepped in front of him. “Cullen, give her a minute. Let her drink a healing potion. The red lyrium makes her ill.”

“Leave her. We’re losing Samson.” Cullen argued.

Evelyn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The man who promised to always be there -the man who guarded her so fiercely in Sahrnia was ready to drop her like dead weight. 

“Whoa there, Curly.” Varric interceded. “I think Bright Eyes isn’t the only one being bothered by the red lyrium. You’re starting to remind me of Meredith, and that isn’t a good thing.”

Cullen shook his head in disbelief. It couldn’t be true. He hadn’t taken or touched anything, but he did feel invincible just like when he had his first lyrium draught so many years ago. _Maker, no._ So this was how the other templars fell, the pull of the red lyrium was even stronger than the blue’s. He put his hands over his face and began to pray.

“It’ll be okay, Curly. We won’t have to be here much longer, and now that you know what is happening you can better fight it. But you do owe Bright Eyes an apology.”

“Ev, I didn’t realize what a hold it had on me.”

She stood and pushed past him, “Your kind never does. Let’s go. I’m sick of this,” she said bitterly.

Sera and Varric exchanged concerned looks before following the Inquisitor through the next door.

The squad faced a much more difficult battle in the next room. Their team dynamic was thrown off by the tension between the Inquisitor and her commander. Additionally, Red Templar shadows stalked the halls. The fast moving rogues were skilled assassins with an uncanny knack for flanking enemies. One shadow was able to strike Sera in the kidney - a blow that would have been fatal if Evelyn hadn’t cast a very powerful restoration spell over her. Throwing her marked hand in the air, Evelyn summoned the power of a rift to drain the Red Templar’s health and then laid back against a wall. Varric, Cassandra, and Cullen waited for Evelyn’s rift to close and then finished off the greatly weakened templars. 

Evelyn’s mana was exhausted, but Sera needed further healing. Pinching her nose to deaden the taste, Evelyn downed another lyrium potion and gagged. Shaking her head vigorously, she shivered at the aftertaste. She could not fathom how templars took it daily. Lyrium was bitter and burned your throat. It laid like lead in your stomach. It was _nasty_.

Even worse than the taste was the sensation lyrium gave her -a swelling, swirling feeling of power and magic that wasn’t her own. Most mages liked the euphoric, omnipotent rush lyrium provided. Evelyn hated it. She liked to feel in control. She liked to guide and manage her own mana not have it enhanced with lyrium.

Once Sera was healed, the party continued into the next room. Evelyn could hardly think her head was pounding so badly. Large spikes of red lyrium at least 20 feet tall were throughout the room. A young man in Circle robes was sitting against the base of a statue at the far end of the room. A sunburst tattoo on his forehead marked him as a tranquil. _Maddox_

The tranquil greeted the Inquisitor and Cullen politely - referring to Cullen by his old title of Knight-Captain. Maddox’s pupils were uneven, and his mouth foamed as he spoke. _Poisoned_ Evelyn thought.

“Can you heal him?” Cullen asked Evelyn while kneeling beside the tranquil.

Maddox answered for her. “It would be a waste to try. I took my entire supply of blightcap essence. It won’t be long now.”

“You threw your life away for Samson. Why?” Cullen growled in frustration.

“Samson saved me even before he needed me. He gave me purpose again. I wanted.. to... help...” Maddox answered before falling silent.

Cullen closed his eyes and shook his head as Maddox breathed his last. Standing up with a grim look on his face, Cullen ordered Evelyn to search the camp for anything Maddox might have missed.

Evelyn’s eyes grew hard and her fists balled, “You can search the ashes yourself, _Commander_. I’ll be outside.”

Cullen nearly commanded her to come back but thought better of it. He’d deal with her childishness later.

Cassandra strode over to Cullen. “I found many empty lyrium bottles beside what I presume to be Samson’s bed. He is taking an extraordinary amount of it if they are any indicator.”

“Drinking it, wearing it, growing it. You can’t say Samson isn’t committed.” Varric quipped while picking something off a table and pocketing it.

Sera called out from an adjoining room. “Hey, these look expensive.”

“They are tools for enchanting lyrium - or they were before the fire. They must have belonged to Maddox.” Cassandra deduced.

“We should take them. Dagna may be able to figure out how Maddox crafted and maintained Samson’s armor by examining them. If so, we have him.” Cullen stated. “Let’s go. We need to find the Inquisitor.”

“No shit.” Varric said under his breath.

Evelyn was sitting on the temple courtyard steps and polishing her staff with religious fervor. Her eyes were red, and her nose was runny. She had been crying - hard. Cullen’s stomach dropped as his mind flashed how he had treated her inside the temple. He closed his eyes tightly and grabbed the back of his neck.

At the sight of the Inquisitor, Varric breathed in sharply through his teeth and walked past Evelyn like she was a live explosive.

“Not going near that.” Sera commented to Cullen while pointing at Evelyn. “Scrubbing, polishing, pissed as hell. That’s your mess to clean up, ass biscuit.” 

Cassandra put a hand on Cullen’s shoulder. “You should both get further away from the red lyrium before you try to talk in earnest.”

Cullen understood Cassandra’s point, but he disagreed. Some apologies couldn’t wait. He walked over to Evelyn and sat beside her. She gave him an angry glare and went back to tending her staff. Cullen started talking, “So there was this guy, let’s call him Commander Asshole...”

“Commander is too high of a rank.” Evelyn interrupted. “Try Corporal.”

Cullen whistled. “Busted all the way down to Corporal? Ouch. **Corporal** Asshole made a major ass of himself, but he wants to apologize. How would you recommend he proceed?”

“Carefully.” Evelyn answered with the hint of a smile.

Cullen took her marked hand in his. “Ev, I am so sorry. There is no excuse for how I acted. The red lyrium may have affected me, but I should not have let it affect _us_. Let me make this up to you.”

Evelyn’s mouth twisted in thought and then she sighed, “Alright, Corporal, apology accepted on the condition that we discuss this later. I need to get away from here and let my head clear first. Are you ready to go?” Evelyn stood and tugged on Cullen’s hand to join her.

“I can’t leave this place quickly enough.” Cullen answered.

Inquisition soldiers were waiting outside the temple walls. Cullen stopped and directed them to make one final sweep of the temple. Evelyn came over to where Cullen was speaking with his officers. “Commander, a word, please.” He was surprised that she interrupted his discussion but stepped away from his men. 

“Yes, Inquisitor?” he asked.

“Please ensure Maddox receives proper respect.”

Cullen called to one of the officers, “There is a dead tranquil in the far end of the temple. Make sure his body is removed for cremation and Chantry services.” Turning back to Evelyn he added quietly “Samson looked after him. We should do no less. Thank you for reminding me of that.”

Evelyn bobbed her head and then said, “I know you’ll want to stay with your soldiers until they finish. I am returning to camp with Sera and Varric. Cassandra is remaining here if you need assistance.”

“Ev, we need to talk about what happened.” Cullen said in a low whisper.

“Yes, but I need to rest first. I’d tell you to do the same, but I know that you are too wound up right now. Just promise me that you won’t go back in the temple. Let Cassandra go instead. The red lyrium doesn’t disturb her as it does us.”

“I promise I’ll stay out here.” he said with the hint of a smile. “And I’m sure you’ve directed Cassandra to ensure that I do.”

 

************************

Evelyn, Sera, and Varric made good time returning to camp. While Varric recounted the events at the temple, Evelyn slipped off to a nearby stream. She couldn’t wait to wash away the gore and memory of the battle. Removing her armor, she saw where the Red Templar horrors had spewed red lyrium over her as well as dents where blows had gotten past her barriers. Surveying the damage and contamination, Evelyn realized that the armor was past repair. With a wave of her hand, the armor went up in flames. Evelyn watched gleefully as the leather burned and metal melted before her eyes. _Good riddance_.

The Iron Bull must have smelled smoke because he came barreling toward Evelyn a few seconds later. She didn’t have time to react and stood dumbly in front of the blaze in nothing but her smalls. “Boss, are you okay?” he asked once he took in the scene.

Evelyn modestly crossed her arms across her chest. “I’m fine, Bull.”

“What about that?” he questioned while gesturing to the molten pile of armor.

“It wasn’t salvageable, and I felt like burning something.” she admitted.

“You’re setting fire to your gear, but you’re fine?” Bull questioned with his single eye staying trained on Evelyn’s face.

“I’m better having watched it burn. I’ll be even better once I bathe.” she said trying to hint for him to leave.

“If you say so, Boss. There are too many unaccounted for Red Templars in the area for you to be alone. I’ll stand guard.”

“Bull?”

“Yeah, Boss?”

“No watching.”

“Always taking the fun out of work.” Bull chuckled and turned his back to Evelyn.

After scrubbing her skin nearly raw and washing her hair three times, Evelyn got out of the stream and dried herself off with both magic and a towel. She dressed in Circle robes made of emerald-dyed cotton with gold embroidery and pressed her feet into a pair of velvet slippers. It felt marvelous to be out of armor and leather.

“Let’s go, Bull. I’m starving.”

“You clean up nicely, Boss. Are those robes enchanted? It’s dangerous for you to go without protection in the field.”

“Yes, Bull, they have several enchantments. You don’t have to mother me.”

“Varric said things were rough at the temple. I’m here if you need to talk.”

“Actually, I’d rather hit something.”

“Turning into a Qunari on me? The camp doesn’t have any practice dummies, but you’re welcome to take a swing at me.” Bull offered with a grin.

“Once I’ve had some food, you’re on, Bull.”

********************

Near midnight, Cullen and Cassandra returned to camp by torchlight. His soldiers had found little inside the temple save a corrupting rune that Dagna would put to good use and a few Red Templar soldiers that had surrendered. Once the sweep was finished, Cullen had instructed the men to burn the remainder of the temple. He had stood watching the blaze for some time - relishing the small victory and thinking of what to say to Evelyn.

Varric was standing on the edge of camp speaking to a soldier that was on guard. Cullen could have sworn he saw excitement pass over Varric’s face at their return. “Curly, Seeker, I thought one of us should stay up and greet you.” Varric called out to them but kept his eyes on Cassandra. Cullen looked over at the warrior and saw a faint blush on her cheeks. _I must be hallucinating. Is Cassandra smiling?_ Cullen thought.

Cullen left Cassandra and Varric behind. The two were speaking to each other in low tones unlike their typical shouting matches and neither one was pointing an accusing finger at the other. Evelyn had been working subtly to push the two together for the past month - encouraging small kindnesses between them, pointing out their admirable character traits to each other, and sitting near them at meals to ensure their exchanges remained friendly. Evelyn was convinced that if the rogue and warrior stopped arguing that they might fall in love. _Maybe she was right after all._

He looked eagerly around the camp for Evelyn. _She never goes to bed this early._ When he saw no sign of her, Cullen went to the tent they were sharing. _Maybe she is writing orders or reading reports._ After his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the tent, Cullen could see Evelyn’s sleeping form on her cot. He let out a sign of relief when he saw her. _It’s going to be okay between us._ Cullen thought when he saw that she had wrapped herself in his mantle before going to sleep. He had left it behind that morning because they were far enough north that it was too warm for the extra layer. Looking at her swaddled in his coat, Cullen felt a lump forming in his throat. _Maker, help me do better._ He prayed as he readied himself for bed.


End file.
